19. QUEEN EYLBELLA
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As the team escorted the battered guards through the gates of Falberin, elves from the city quickly rushed in to assist with the transportation. Each elf looked vastly different from the previous – some had skin with a rocky texture, others were polka-dotted or striped. Many, but not all, emanated with unique magical energies.
The elves of the city led the team to a series of eight small huts, each built from marblelime: a plant-like stone, covered in smooth white bumps. From each hut exited a tall elf with pink-and-white swirling features around their eyes. These bright elves looked upon the fallen guards with kindness, placing their thumbs over the foreheads of the wounded.
With a sudden flash of pink light, each of the five wounded guards suddenly looked healthy as ever – a sight not unlike Vitra’s potion healing Stibs in an instant back on Jaiphione’s Crescent.
As the five warriors calmly dismounted the Yiklar Floating Bed, the eight healers bowed their heads somberly, chanting an elvish prayer for the fallen sixth guard. Having been bitten in the neck by the lionpig, he had entered Falberin already dead, and it seemed there was nothing more these healing elves could do for him.
Once the touching prayer – which requested Jaiphione to give grace and brightness to the fallen guard in his next life – was finished, a group of elves wearing red-and-purple robes lifted the body off the Yiklar Floating Bed and carried it away. As they left, 27 cautiously removed the covers from his levitating mattress, visibly uneased by the fact a dead body had been resting on his personal cot.
As 27 unfolded his Yiklar Folding Cabin and returned his magic bed to its rightful place inside, the five healed guards regrouped with the team – ready to fulfill their end of the bargain.
Once everyone was ready, the five guards escorted their heroes deeper into the elf-filled capital city. The crew eventually came upon a magnificent castle made of plant-based materials: thick marblelime walls, yellow-colored lemongranite columns, and vinelike pewterorange arches above each entrance and pathway. The castle felt alive, with plant-like citrus textures visible on every brick. The guards guided the prisoners through the pleasant-smelling fortress, towards the throne room.
“Hmmm, this is quite nice, yes?” Colb cheered, looking around at the plants and artwork surrounding him.
“Make no mistake – this is still a dire place,” Kashmir murmured. Her sky-blue eyes looked a shade darker than normal as they darted around the room. The purple elf seemed to be searching for exits or signs of danger.
“Hmmm, we’re being welcomed as heroes, yes? There’s no reason to be enemies when you can be nice, yes?” Colb reminded.
“I know…” Kashmir muttered. “Still, we need to be careful. From what my father told me, Queen Eylbella can get furious in a moment. If we make her angry, it won’t matter that we spared a few guards and killed a lionpig. Tell the others to never speak out-of-turn, and to never say anything rude or question something Queen Eylbella says. Only speak when spoken to, and remain agreeable and respectful.”
Colb translated the purple elf’s words for his companions, who nodded with understanding. 27 and Drek looked eager to impress the queen, as they adjusted their robe and crown respectively. Stibs was still lugging the lionpig’s large severed head behind him, which occasionally dripped some blood onto the castle floor.
The guards led the crew into a royal area. This room was covered in magnificently detailed architecture, from an intricately carved timeline of previous rulers on the floor, to a magnificent throne made from marblelime and speckled with flakes of pewterorange in front of a large window. Elven guards stood stationed along the edges of the space: some armed with swords and daggers, others simply emanating with palpable innate magic.
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Inlaid at the top of the queen’s throne sat an attached glass orb filled with glittery green dust. A faint Elvish chant “Jaiphione, Jaiphione, Jaiphione…” could be heard lightly flowing from the spherical artifact.
Below the whispering orb sat an elvish woman, holding a fine lemongranite staff. She was adorned with the fanciest of green dresses, color-matched perfectly with the particles twisting and turning in the glass sphere above her head. Her skin was bright white like a fluffy cloud in spring, and her hair shined yellow like the morning sun. Her eyes were pure goldatinum, which flawlessly matched the crown set upon her head.
The group entered awkwardly, escorted by the team of guards from before. After they stepped into the room, Kashmir and the five guards performed a slight dance: an elegant elvish bow to address the royal queen.
The goblins watched these movements, then attempted to do the same. They flopped their arms around gracelessly, all four of them stumbling to the ground during their shaky attempts at the ritual.
When they were done with their pathetic greeting, the goblins stood quietly, waiting to be addressed before speaking – as Kashmir had requested of them.
“Your majesty,” a guard suddenly announced, lowering his pointed ears as he spoke. “On our way into your city, we were attacked by a lionpig in the western forest. As our commanding officer retreated, and our magic-users left us for dead, these five heroes saved our lives. They slew the beast easily, then brought us to the Healing Eight for rejuvenation. The event resulted in one casualty, but it would have been six if not for these warriors.”
Queen Eylbella sat silently, staring at the group. Stibs cautiously stepped forwards, placed the lionpig head on the ground before the queen, then stepped back in line with the rest of his crew without a word.
The queen looked down at the trophy expressionlessly, then turned her gaze back up to the crew before her. She tilted her head, and her voice soon entered everyone’s minds telepathically. Colb shuddered with surprise as the queen’s smooth words entered his brain, speaking fluently in his native language of Goblish.
“Quilliva! Step forward,” Queen Elybella’s voice commanded. Kashmir walked forward a small bit, bowing her head respectfully.
“I’ve heard that you left Tarso suddenly, traveling to Jaiphione’s Crescent,” the queen continued. “That’s the very place your family wishes to wage war. What were you doing there?”
“I went there to… to hurt the humans,” Kashmir admitted. “While I was there, I learned they weren’t so bad. So, I changed my mind.”
“You left to hurt the humans. The exact ones I explicitly barred your family from even thinking about?” Queen Eylbella replied. Her voice spat in Colb’s head like a dwarven leader reprimanding a cowardly soldier.
“Um… yes,” Kashmir confirmed. Her ears drooped as she stiffly admitted to her crimes before the queen.
“You’ve clearly performed treason by disobeying my direct orders for the Quilliva family to stop bringing attention to Jaiphione’s Crescent. Avoiding war with the humans is a diplomatic nightmare, and your little escapade could have set us back decades. It seems my wishes were not made clear enough the first time. I should have you and your whole family executed for this.”
“Rrghegh… that’s stupid,” Drek muttered.
“Excuse me!” Queen Eylbella gasped. Colb watched a look of horror seep into Kashmir’s eyes.
“Step forward, goblin,” the queen ordered. As her voice boomed in everyone’s minds, the queen waved for Kashmir to retreat.
Kashmir silently stepped back into the group, and Drek waltzed forwards. “You dare call my policy stupid?” the queen demanded.
“Rrghegh… from what I’ve seen, she learned lesson already, and is strong fighter. To kill her would be waste of good elf,” the crown-wearing goblin replied. The room went silent. Kashmir grit her teeth at the sound of Drek talking back to the queen.
“And who, pray tell, do you think you are?” Queen Eylbella spat. Colb adjusted his leather chestplate nervously, discomforted by the scene.
“Rrghegh… a hero. A warrior. That’s what your own guards announced when we entered the room,” Drek retorted.
“You think that scrappy little crown you’re wearing allows you to speak over royalty?” Queen Eylbella demanded. Colb looked at the little goldatinum headwear sat upon Drek’s head, which Borin had crafted from the pirate captain’s treasure. It didn’t look scrappy at all in Colb’s opinion.
“Even a hero or warrior, would not DARE,” she continued. The queen stomped her white staff onto the ground, and a resulting BANG! sound echoed throughout the chamber. “DARE speak to me like they own this place!”
Drek wrapped his arms silently in his cloak. Colb had a feeling the young goblin was preparing to draw his deadly iridhodium arrow. For a moment, silence sat frozen in the space like an ice chuck pressure-bound in the center of an iceberg. Some of the royal guards around the edges of the room began readying their swords and sharpened boomerangs, cautious of the scene.